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Ajinkya Rahane categorically said the pitch did not help spinners and wanted to avoid getting into what constitutes ‘home advantage.’
Ajinkya Rahane wants to stay away from the pitch debate. (AFP Photo)
Ajinkya Rahane was asked point-blank about what is ‘home advantage’ for a side in the Indian Premier League (IPL) after Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) suffered their second defeat at Eden Gardens, a narrow 4-run loss to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in an IPL 2025 match on Tuesday.
“There has been enough talk about the wicket. Mai kuch bolunga toh bawaal ho jayega (if I say anything, it will cause a controversy),” Rahane said in reply at the post-match press conference.
“Let me just keep it that way. Our curator (Sujan Mukherjee) has got a lot of publicity. I think he’s happy with that publicity. You (the media) can write whatever you want about the home advantage. If I feel like it, I’ll tell the IPL team rather than talking here. I’ll talk to the concerned authorities,” he added.
After beating Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on a dryish-looking pitch, which had reportedly not been watered for days, the attention ahead of KKR’s clash against LSG was again on the playing surface – not the one used for their previous game but the adjacent one.
On the eve of the match, the pitch was watered and appeared to have much more grass to hold the surface together.
What was expected to be a turner turned out to be a belter.
A total of 472 runs were scored across 40 overs – KKR managed 234/7 in reply to LSG’s 238/3. What did not help to stem the flow of runs was the lopsided nature of the dimensions in play.
“Firstly, there was no help for the spinners, let me clear that,” Rahane said, as his call to bowl first did not go according to plan with LSG batters avoiding KKR’s ploy of targeting the shorter side.
“They used the boundary really well, you know, bowling to the longer boundary, they did that really well, our bowlers tried as well, but again, (Nicholas) Pooran and Mitchell Marsh batted really well in between, they took their chances which came off really well for them,” Rahane explained.
“It was a lovely wicket, we all saw that, scoring almost 500 runs on this track, hard for the bowlers, but again, they used the conditions and used the boundary really well,” he added.
LSG did use the ‘local’ conditions better than the ‘home’ side.
KKR’s spinners Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy failed to take a wicket and went for runs, so much so that the West Indian maestro didn’t even complete his quota of four overs.
Digvesh Singh Rathi and Ravi Bishnoi of LSG managed to pick up two crucial wickets between them and also bowled the 18th and 20th overs in the second innings.
Can’t Sit And Knock It Around On A Good Wicket
Aiden Markram, who started the LSG innings with a quick-fire 47, lauded the LSG bowlers, saying that it is not easy, especially given their inexperience.
“When guys are taking you on, it can be really difficult on a good wicket, really quick outfields and some of them really small grounds as well. So it really just tests their skills,” Markram said.
“If it’s landing on the day, then any bowler can be great, but once batters put bowlers under pressure, it’s hard to get back into the game.”
“Each game is a massive opportunity for them to learn and fine tune plans and then hopefully when you get to the game next time that you ultimately execute it that’s where the results are is all about execution and it’s for the bowlers, it’s tough, it’s a really small margins,” he said.
As for their plans against KKR bowlers, especially Narine and Varun, Markram said that the plan was to back themselves on a good wicket.
“I always want to back your strengths in T20 cricket. Take the game on and whichever bowler it is on, especially if the wicket is good. Back your strengths as you can’t just sit there and knock it around when it’s good wicked,” Markram said.
“At times it works out and at times the bowler gets the best of you,” he added.
